The Hungarian government will veto any further European Union aid to Ukraine or sanctions on Russia, according to the country’s foreign minister, citing Ukrainian “belligerence” towards Budapest.
“It’s fair to say that we’ve had enough,” said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, speaking in Vienna, Austria on behalf of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, per Bloomberg.
“I want to make clear that as long as Ukraine keeps OTP on its list of international war sponsors, we can’t support decisions requiring new economic and financial sacrifice on the part of the European Union and its member states,” Szijjarto said, referring to Ukraine having put Hungarian lender OTP Bank Nyrt on a blacklist of sorts for doing business in Russia.
“The same goes for sanctions,” Szijjarto added.
Hungary, which borders Ukraine, is also believed to be irate over Washington Post reporting which suggests President Volodymyr Zelensky considered blowing up a pipeline which transfers Russian oil to his NATO neighbor.
Simmering Tensions.
The two countries have long been at odds, with Hungary angered by legislation which would limit the Hungarian minority in Ukraine’s access to Hungarian-language schooling, among other forms of perceived discrimination.
Ukraine, for its part, has itself been angered by Hungary’s refusal to supply its war machine, or allow third-country weapons shipments to pass through their territory – though Budapest does supply humanitarian aid, and has taken in many thousands of Ukrainian refugees.
Senior Ukrainian government ministers have gone so far as to accuse Hungary of expecting the Russians to hand them Transcarpathia, the Ukrainian border region where most of the country’s ethnic Hungarians live.
Hungary has vigorously denied the accusation, branding it “insane”.